ok with skyrim we are going to have plenty of varied assets [textures models] coming default with the game and will apparently have a heavily improved interface for the creation kit. If its like the last sdk it will have an awesome landscape editor.

which brings me to the point of this thread

Highrock landmass mod, dark fantasy.
in the spirit of daggerfall mixed with a little diablo influence and skyrims nordic theme.

"witches wizards, grave robbing thieves, cutthroat murderers, zealous priests & paladins, and spies a plenty. A plot that has nothing to do with skyrim but everything to do with power, greed and death. a plague is upon the region Highrock, and a power struggle like the kingdom has never seen. feudal wars and decimated kingdoms, High nobility has become akin to the Mafia, some akin to secret organizations, and outsiders are not welcome.
Enter the Highrock!"



this is a mod im working on for skyrim.
i have a few people who will be helping later on but at the moment i have only done a little bit.

by november i will have quite a bit ready for implementation, and i will need to recruit a few people from the nexus and possibly use some of their mods as well.

just about 1/20th of the models and textures so far, i will use alot of skyrims stuff because the geography is similar, but i have quite a few buildings for orsinium that are near completion [like 5, exteriors so don't worry, interiors come after the kit is released] and i'm working on a castle.
the plot is still being written. the art is everywhere, i just need to upload it. scanner broke so..yeah.


im wondering if i can import my map from blender into the creation kit...too soon i guess.
could it be done in the tes cs?

would i have to remake my landmass within the new engine?
is it too soon to know? i bet it is...i bet i have to do it all over..
oh well, i can still use it on my unity project XD, but the models i am sure will be usefull. especially my trees XD!

_______________________________________________________
WHY DO WE NOT HAVE SUB-FORUMS FOR SKYRIM YET???

ill get ahold of a site soon and post my work. but dont expect any news untill after spring break.

Bear in mind that even the trees use a totally different system this time. Branches are calculated for physics separately, which might need some additional modeling shenanigans. The difference between FO3 and New Vegas was minimal mechanics-wise because they used the same engine. NV was basically a giant expansion pack for FO3. The same can't be said for Oblivion and Skyrim. Don't even try making mods for it yet. It'll end in disappointed when you try to make them compatible, I'm sure.

the trees are still just textures. the only models i have are for the architecture and a few stone structures. think Stonehenge but with glow mapped runes. azura shrine.

It's really too soon to do any mod planning beyond purely story. No technical stuff about the engine is known at all, past what we can see. I would wait till like 1 month prior to release to plan out so much, then we should hopefully know enough to save some trouble. But defenitly write the story out. Then when playing the game you can fill in the blanks and have it ready.

is this not what i said? models have almost nothing to do with the engine. neither do textures. they can be imported into the sdk.
[edit] and yes im keeping them low poly, incase you wanted to ask.
the textures are as high as i can get them atm because i may re-use them.

Because we don't need them yet

EDIT: About all your other stuff; no-one knows. Best to wait and see. The heightmap will likely not work straight off though. Just be patient

The landscape will almost certainly need to be made with the CS' heightmap generator or a compatible tool.

Good luck, hope you know what you're getting into.

That depends on how soon we get our hands on import/export scrips for max&blender. But still it's a start, less stuff to work on when you are able to import them. It's strange to see someone start modding 9 months before the game comes out though. Best of wishes with your mod

really i wanted to know if it was possible to do in ob. do you know? if so that gives me hope.

and thanks im not the only one working on this, the other guys are working with unity and blender atm practicing character rigging. so we have experience, we need a few code guys but thats just about it.
trust me, most of what we have so far is going to be usable.

At this point, I would focus on designing the quests, doing concept art, planning, and lore checking. Although I think you'll still be able to use the same 3d software you could use for Oblivion, it would be foolish to assume that, and get tons of models done only to find out you can't use them, not to mention you need to do concept art first. What you are in right now is the pre-production phase of development. I wouldn't get to ahead of myself yet, or you could face setbacks that'll destroy your project. Better safe than sorry. Good luck on it though.

Not sure about landscape and height maps, but I am sure there will be export plugins for whatever 3D program you are using. What I'd recommend though is to keep the models low-poly at first, and have it so that texturing and such can be redone if needed.

Scripting won't be possible at the moment, at least not directly. If you know what sort of quests and such you want to implement, do a pseudo-script outline and then translate that code into Skyrim's scripting language. Remember that any algorithm can be converted from any programming language to any other, even from Java to x86 Assembly to C++ to Python, if you know each language well enough. Pseudo-code is basically a mock-up, without regard to any particular language's syntax, but is understood by the writer and when a specific programming language is understood, the psuedocode can be converted into functional code.


// This is a quick example based on the syntax of Java and C++
if( player.pressixmeButton() == true)
{
print("Hello world!");
}

No offense, but returning to High Rock on a more condensed and detailed scale is going to be so awkward after the countless adaventures I've had over the years playing Daggerfall. Perhaps, instead of doing the entire province, you could just focus on a smaller landmass - such as one of the islands (Betony?) and do greater justice to it.

thanks, genuine concern is nice to hear, i have full confidence that what we are doing will be useful.
i mentioned we have ass-loads of the art. and planning is pretty much what i do... i have modeling experience though i never saw the use of publishing anything.

the models are still in .blend format, so when someone makes a converter with the cc then i will change them to the poly count accepted by the engine and import them.

im not the guy doing that, its my buddy nick so ill pass that along.


it will be slightly smaller than skyrim but feel bigger because of its awkward shape and varied height...if you get me.
ill stay true to the original layout but it will be smaller and have a darker theme. im sorry if you don't like that idea but i'm not going to return to the boring renaissance flavor of daggerfall and oblivion. this will be akin to bards tale, fable and diablo as far as content mixed with a little real world mount&blade influence.
the lore will be the same. minor exceptions to lore where its been retcon'd and where i think it would be more interesting and fair to the history of certain races [orcs].

The game hasn't been released yet, therefore we have nothing to discuss about Cheats/Spoliers, or Hardware problems, and can only make random suggestions as to what Mods will be needed.

I hope you will take the time to voice the NPCs.
Sounds awesome either way, but I always find it a bit immersion breaking when some characters don't speak, and all others do.

Best leave your intentions unannounced, alot of us have concepts we're itching to include once we have a hang of the game, its mechanics and the CK

We don't know yet. You could risk it though. Heightmaps take a lot of time and effort to get looking good though. http://projectmanager.f2s.com/morrowind/TESAnnwyn.html does export heightmaps from both OB and Morrowind, but there is no guarantee, and I stress, absolutely no guarantee that they can be imported into Skyrim. For certain it won't be until a few months after release. Unless BGS has bundled an importer in there with the Creation Kit, which is about as likely as them making your mod for you xD.

So best to do what others have said, and get the story and quests written out properly, and the lines of spoken dialogue written down so they can be implemented straight away.

Oh, let me get my intentions across more specifically. I really want you to make High Rock far more unique artistically and culturally than it was in Daggerfall, I just wasn't sure if the entire province was easy to swallow since I don't know the scope of your team and resources. But you sound like you have a fair bit planned, so I could be wrong. Wishing you the best of luck with this! :wink_smile:

I think a lot of folks are itching to get their hands on the new Creation Kit. I've got a mod I've been working on for ages in Morrowind that is practically already set in Skyrim. It's a frozen exterior, with a temperate interior - it would be perfectly done in Skyrim from what I can tell.

However, Morrowind is a far simpler game to mod for, and it has taken a VERY long time to get even as far as I am. Skyrim will necessarily be MUCH harder to mod for, and you are describing an expansion pack. I'd start putting out feelers for a team ASAP!

I plan to make a d&d mod.

actually morrowind is a [censored] to mod in comparison to oblivion, and the creation kit supposedly comes with MUCH better tools. i have a team. its small at the moment, but we have alot of time, we are just getting our assets together so we can really perform when we get the new tools.